Bobbi Nicholson: The problem with school vouchers, besides their segregationist roots, effects

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Bobbi Nicholson: The problem with school vouchers, besides their segregationist roots, effects

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has never been a teacher or a principal or a superintendent. She’s never run a school or a school district, and if she has any experience with higher education other than having been a student, there’s no record of it.

She did not herself attend either a public school or a public university; nor did her children. She does, however, have one outstanding quality in Trump’s eyes: She’s a “school choice” advocate.

“School choice,” of course, may refer to either charter schools or voucher programs. Charter schools are publicly funded and accountable to at least some degree to public authorities, but may be operated by private or nonprofit entities.